Elaine Stritch passed away Thursday in Detroit; she was 89. The Broadway actress’s 60-year career included work in theater (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), film (A Farewell to Arms), television (30 Rock), and musical theater – she was perhaps best known for her iconic rendition of Stephen Sondheim’s “The Ladies Who Lunch,” an aging socialite’s tribute to women of a certain age and income, from the musical Company.
Though Stritch was ill with diabetes at the end of her life, she still managed to perform in a one-woman cabaret review, “Elaine Stritch at the Carlyle: Movin’ Over and Out,” in New York in April of 2013. February 2014 saw the release of Chiemi Karasawa’s documentary about Stritch’s life entitled “Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me.” The documentary features a performance of another of Stritch’s infamous renditions, a song from Sondheim’s musical Follies called “I’m Still Here” – unfortunately that’s no longer true, but here’s to the legacy Stritch leaves behind.
—Alex Trow is a writer based in New York
